Musings of a twenty something and (hopefully) some lessons learnt

Series Review: The Crown (Season 1)

The weekend before last I binge-watched The Crown on Netflix. Tracing the life of Queen Elizabeth-II from before she was Queen to 1955, when her sister, Princess Margaret, calls off her engagement to Peter Townsend (a much publicised relationship at that time), the series is a work of art.

The actors are flawless. While Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth and Matt Smith as Prince Philip do more than justice to their roles, Vanessa Kirby simply fits right into her role as Princess Margaret and John Lithgow could might as well be a clone of Winston Churchill.

Yet, the series has some palpable drawbacks. The monarchy is far too romanticised, as seen in the episode where Queen Mary compares the British monarchy to gods, when, in fact they are as human as you and me. Churchill is far too positively portrayed, and Prince Philip often comes off as a whiny, temperamental, attention-seeking husband.